Sports dispatches Feb. 15

Ex-NFL player charged with rape

LOS ANGELES - Prosecutors charged former NFL safety Darren Sharper on Friday with raping and drugging two women in California and disclosed he is under investigation in connection with five more drug-related rapes in three other states.

Sharper briefly appeared in Los Angeles Superior Court, where his arraignment was postponed until Feb. 20 at the request of his lawyers. They issued a statement saying he would be exonerated.

Prosecutors then filed a motion to increase Sharper's bail to $10 million and outlined details of investigations involving him in Las Vegas, Tempe, Ariz., and New Orleans.

Sharper has not been charged in the other jurisdictions.

In the bail motion, Los Angeles County Investigator John Maccharella described a pattern in which the former football star met women at clubs or parties and lured them to a hotel room, where they were allegedly drugged and raped.

The motion says the incidents happened in the past five months, with two occurring within a day in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

After conferring with police in other jurisdictions, Maccharella said in the bail motion that the first assault followed an event for New Orleans Saints football players on Sept. 22, 2013.

Maccharella said he was told a woman went to a New Orleans bar with Sharper, consumed an alcoholic beverage provided by him and blacked out. She awoke the next morning while being sexually assaulted, the bail motion stated, noting that an exam later showed Sharper's DNA was present.

The Los Angeles charges were based on incidents on Oct. 30, 2013, and Jan. 14, 2014, beginning at a West Hollywood nightclub. Sharper allegedly met two women each time, invited them to a party then said he had to stop at his hotel.

Nishikori rallies to reach semis in Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Defending champion Kei Nishikori of Japan rallied to beat Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr. 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals of the U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships on Friday.

The top-seeded Nishikori will next play 35-year-old American Michael Russell, who upset third-seeded Lleyton Hewitt of Australia 6-3, 7-6 (6) in another quarterfinal match.